Emancipation Park Quotes

“Rosewood Courts, Austin's Eastside project for African Americans, was built on land obtained by condemning Emancipation Park, the site of an annual festival to commemorate the abolition of slavery. The park had been privately owned by a neighborhood association the Travis County Emancipation Organization, and residents protested the condemnation of this community institution in which they took great pride. But their objects had no effect, despite the availability of other vacant land.”
― Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

“Finding and studying photographs from Texas - Houston, Austin, Corpus Christi - and Richmond, Virginia felt like time travel; I wondered what it would be like to stand on hallowed ground like Houston’s Emancipation Park or Austin’s Eastwoods Park and celebrate freedom with fellow Black folks.”
― Tieshka K Smith, Compositions of Black Joy: A Visual Chronicle of the Philadelphia Juneteenth Festival